Tag: writing

• Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell (1877–1918), Science, Service, and a Life of Exceptional Promise

  Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell stands out within my family history as a figure whose life moved far beyond the rural landscapes of Mid Wales into the international worlds of science, medicine, and imperial service. Though his career was cut short by the First World War, the scale of his intellectual achievement, and the geographical breadth…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  21/01/2026

  Articles

  Antony David Davies, British biologists, Edwardian medicine, Edwardian scientists, First World War medical service, Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell, history, history of zoology, Llyfnant Valley families, medicine, Merton College Oxford, Old Llyfnant Valley Farming Families, Oxford scientists, philosophy, Royal Air Force medical board, science, science and empire, South American exploration, Spurrell family, University of New Orleans, Welsh family history, Welsh genealogy, West Africa exploration, writing, zoological discovery

• Richard Emmett, and the Value of an Ordinary Life

  In the 1880s, a retired soldier sat down to write a short book for his children. He did not imagine an audience beyond his family, nor did he attempt to shape his life into a story of heroism or distinction. He wrote, instead, to explain himself. To account for absence. To leave behind a record…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  06/01/2026

  Articles

  book-review, books, British Army history, British Empire, family history, history, memoir, military families, nineteenth century, primary sources, Richard Emmett, Social history, Victorian memoir, working-class history, writing

• A Christmas in the Victorian Welsh Uplands

  In the high country of mid and north Wales, where the hills folded into one another like great, weathered blankets and the lanes were little more than tracks worn by generations of hooves and boots, Christmas in the Victorian era arrived quietly. There was no sense of sudden abundance, no dramatic break from the rhythm…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  23/12/2025

  Articles

  19th century Wales, Agrarian Wales, books, Calennig, christmas, Christmas in Wales, Cultural memory, fiction, history, Mari Lwyd, Mid Wales, Nonconformist Wales, North Wales, Noson Gyflaith, Plygain, Rural communities, Rural winter life, Upland farming, Victorian Christmas, Victorian domestic life, Victorian Wales, Welsh Chapels, Welsh Christmas traditions, Welsh countryside, Welsh farmhouse life, Welsh folk traditions, Welsh rural life, Welsh Social History, Welsh uplands, writing

• Why the English and the Welsh Keep Misunderstanding Each Other — And Why It Still Shapes Modern Britain

  We talk endlessly about the politics of the Union, the economics of devolution, and the future of the UK. But beneath all of that lies a quieter, deeper truth: The English and the Welsh speak the same language, but not the same culture.And because no one acknowledges this, we constantly misread each other. These aren’t…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  03/12/2025

  Articles

  behavioural culture, bilingualism, British culture, British identity, communication styles, cross-border relations, cultural differences, cultural literacy, cultural misunderstanding, Devolution, england, English culture, English history, English identity, English values, history, identity politics, inter-cultural communication, language, National identity, national stereotypes, Offa’s Dyke, Politics, social psychology, soft power, UK nations, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh values, Welsh vs English, workplace culture, writing

• Why I Left The Range

  By Antony David Davies, FRSA FRAS AFRHistS MCMI MIoL When I finally received the documents from my Subject Access Request, this is how The Range described my departure: “Anthony(sp) left our store with immediate effect, with no communication to anybody in store, only texting the store manager, just left his store keys on the manager’s…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  10/11/2025

  Articles

  Antony David Davies, assistant manager experience, British retail, corporate culture, employee wellbeing, ethical workplace, family, fiction, health and safety inspection, integrity at work, leadership failure, leaving The Range, life, management accountability, management dysfunction, mental-health, moral courage, moral leadership, refusing to lie, retail leadership, retail management culture, retail sector, retail whistleblower, SAR disclosure, standing up for integrity, subject access request, The Range, toxic management, toxic workplace, walking out with dignity, whistleblowing, Why I Left The Range, workplace bullying, workplace ethics, workplace truth, writing

• Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft: The Gentleman Who Inspired a Historian

  When I trace the beginnings of my love of history, I always return to one figure — Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft of Stokesay Court, the elderly baronet who, quite unknowingly, set a child on the path to becoming a historian. I met him in the great Shropshire house that dominated my early world. He would summon…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  15/10/2025

  Articles

  20th century biography, AFRHistS, Anglo-Jewish heritage, Antony David Davies, art, biographical writing, books, British biography, British historians, childhood inspiration, Edwardian England, Elizabeth Longford, English country houses, FRSA, Gladstone biographer, historian memoir, historians of character, historical reflection, history, inspiration, intellectual formation, literary biography, Ludlow history, mentorship, moral history, New College Oxford, Onibury Church, rural gentry, Shropshire heritage, Shropshire history, Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft, Stokesay Court, Victorian and Edwardian era, writing

• Teenage Years on the Doldowlod Hall Estate

  The mid-1990s were years of transition in rural Wales. Farming incomes were under strain, country houses were redefining their purpose, and politics in Britain seemed poised between the certainties of Thatcherism and the coming landslide of New Labour. For me, those years were marked most vividly by the Doldowlod Hall estate on the upper reaches…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  21/09/2025

  Articles

  1990s-wales, books, british-politics, conservative-party-history, country-estate-life, country-house-history, doldowlod-hall, family history, fiction, forestry-and-woodland-management, garden, gardening, gibson-watt-family, historical-memoir, lady-diana-gibson-watt, Local history, lord-david-gibson-watt, Mid Wales, personal-history, Powys, rhayader, river-wye, rural-heritage, sir-philip-magnus-allcroft, Social history, teenage-memories, Welsh history, welsh-country-houses, writing

• How Childhood Environments Shape Intellectual Identity: A Historian’s Reflection

  When we think about how people become who they are, we often turn to education, professional training, or moments of career opportunity. Yet the truth is that much of what defines our intellectual and professional identity is sown far earlier – in the unnoticed textures of childhood. My own journey as a historian was not…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  07/09/2025

  Articles

  education, family, life, memories, writing

• A Tribute to My Uncle Glyn Davies (1943–2025)

  Uncle Glyn with me in my younger, hairier days — clearly paying close attention. From my earliest childhood memories, Uncle Glyn was a steady and inspiring presence in my life. I remember the many visits to see him in Corris, where he lived with my nain — visits filled with warmth, conversation, and a quiet…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  15/08/2025

  Articles

  family, fiction, life, memories, writing